When Amar’e Stoudemire made the difficult decision in February to leave the New York Knicks for the Dallas Mavericks, he did so under the impression that he was leaving a youth-focused rebuilding situation for a team that was doing all it could to make a deep run in the playoffs this season.
Instead, the Mavericks have been just better than medicore since Stoudemire joined the team back on Feb. 18. Tuesday night’s 127-94 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers was the breaking point for him.
“I came here to win, and we’re [4 ½] games out of being out of the playoffs, which is unacceptable,” Stoudemire said to reporters following Tuesday’s loss. “This is something we can’t accept. We’ve got to find a way to refocus. We’ve got to key into the details of the game of basketball.
“We can’t cheat the game,” he continued. “We can’t screw around in games and practices and joke around all the time and figure we’re going to win games. This is the pros. It’s the highest level of basketball. We’ve got to act that way.”
Dallas is 5-6 since the arrival of Stoudemire, dropping to 41-25, good for seventh place in the Western Conference. The blowout by the Cavs is the third time the Mavs have lost by at least 15 points in week.
It’s certainly not his fault. A 13-year veteran and six-time All-Star, Stoudemire has flourished in a reserve role since arriving in Dallas, averaging 11.4 points and 3.5 rebounds in 17.5 minutes per game.
Stoudemire addressed the mental woes that have plagued his new and veteran-filled team the last month.
“We didn’t come out with the aggressiveness or determination or focus that we needed. We didn’t compete. We’re not playing like champions, and they took advantage of that.”
“We’ve got to pay more attention to detail. We can’t be making minor mistakes. We made mistakes that second-year players or rookie players make in this league. We’re a veteran team. Guys are 13, 14, 16 years in this league. We should know better than that.
“We should be a much better team than what we showed out there. This is a team that’s competing for a championship that we played against. We should have stepped up to the challenge of competing with these guys and we backed down.”
Dallas has actually played .500 basketball since Jan. 7th, and Rajon Rondo’s arrival has made for more headlines about clashing with his team and coach rather than wins.
With teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder and New Orleans Pelicans making late playoff pushes, Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle finds himself in a dire situation.
“Well, we’re going to find out what we’re made of from here,” Carlisle said. “This is the lowest point we’ve been at. When you get to this point, everyone has to come together.”
Despite the lackluster play for most of 2015, Stoudemire remained positive when asked if his team was still capable of being the playoff contender he hoped they would be.
“Absolutely. We’ve got the right personnel. We’ve got enough veteran leadership on this team to compete. We’ve just got to have that mindset to want to step up and truly compete. You want to play against the top players in this league. You want to show them that you’ve got what it takes to win.”
Although the Mavericks have failed to deliver on expectations since their recent acquisitions, injuries to players such as Tyson Chandler, Devin Harris, and Al-Farouq Aminu have definitely been a significant hinderence as of late. Stoudemire’s strong message to his team, along with a healthy lineup, could be all that Dallas needs to return to their earlier season form just in time for a postseason run.
Time will tell if his teammates heed his words.
